Blown Away
by CayStar
Summary: A small warm hand on her arm brought her attention back to the child in question. Her brown eyes were wide as she stared at the vampire. "Are you an angel, ma'am?" Emmett/Rose pairing, with Bella


**Pen name:** CayStar

 **Picture Prompt Number** : 19

 **Title of story:** Blown Away

 **Word count:** 1,933

 **Pairing:** Bella, with Emmett/Rosalie

 **Story Rating:** T/M?- reference to child abuse

Soundtrack: Carrie Underwood- _Blown Away_

 ** _AN: This was written for the BetterinTexas Halloween contest, but I do plan on expanding it in the future. No idea how soon it will be- my muse skips around a bit ;)_**

* * *

" _I repeat, a tornado has been spotted five miles west of Norman. Anyone in the path of this storm should take shelter immediately…"_

Big brown eyes darted quickly from the emergency broadcast on the old television, to the disheveled, snoring form of her drunk father on the couch. When the next blast of wind shook the drafty house, she made her move.

Carrying her favorite filthy blanket, her trusty stuffed clown, and an old photo of her mother, Bella ran out the back door as fast as her little feet could carry her. She shook with fright as lightning lit up the stormy night, and tears streamed down her dirty face as she tripped her way across the deserted yard to the storm cellar.

While she had spent plenty of time in the dank hole in the ground, she had never ventured there by choice. The ominous wedge-shaped cloud on the horizon, however, drove her into the sanctuary of her former prison cell.

By the time Bella reached the low door, set at an angle in the ground, she was shaking all over. Between the harsh, swirling wind and intermittent rain, she was a mess. She hugged her meager belongings tightly in one small arm and swiped the tears from her gaunt little cheeks. A glance behind her and a sudden drop in air pressure let her know that the tornado was approaching rapidly, and she scrambled forward to try and pry open the heavy door.

The first attempt sent her sprawling back in the mud, blanket and doll still firmly in her grasp. She wouldn't risk opening her bundle to check on the picture with the fat raindrops still falling, so she pulled herself up to try again. With a break in the wind, Bella was able to lift the door enough for her slender body to slip through, letting it fall with a bang behind her.

In the dark cellar, she didn't even pause to catch her breath. She flew on nimble feet down the familiar steps, reaching without error for the pull chain on the light just before she reached the bottom. To her immense relief, the bulb responded, flooding the small space with warm yellow light.

With the noise of the storm slightly muted by the closed door, Bella turned to examine her cell for the best place to seek shelter. While the cellar was full of various junk items, there was very little in the way of furniture or comfort. Phil hadn't cared much for that when he tired of his stepdaughter and locked her out of sight almost monthly.

Not thinking of those days, Bella headed for the back corner, where she'd built herself something of a nest out of some old shop towels and a few moth-eaten flannel shirts. She used one towel to try and dry herself off before settling down to wait out the storm. She pulled her faded yellow blanket over her head, hugging her clown as she stared at the picture in her hands.

Bella didn't remember much about her mother—mostly feelings and impressions. She knew Renee loved to sing as she moved around the house, sometimes picking her daughter up and twirling her around. She didn't remember the drugs that gave Renee her carefree personality, or the "accident" that left Phil as her sole remaining guardian.

Staring at the faded image of the blonde haired, blue eyed woman who looked nothing like her, Bella began to sing. With the storm raging, leveling the only home she'd ever known, Bella sang herself to sleep under the ground. " _You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are grey…"_

~o~o~o~o~

"Alice, are you sure this is where we're supposed to be? There's nothing here! As soon as the sun comes up we'll be sparkling like disco balls!"

" _I know, Rose. I'm sorry I can't tell you more—I can't see very clearly. I just know this is a turning point, and you_ had _to be there."_

Huffing angrily, Rosalie hung up on her clairvoyant sister and looked around at the destruction. As far as she could see in either direction, houses and trees were leveled by the massive tornado that had ripped through just a few hours earlier. Humans were beginning to stir, but most were staying on their own property as they checked for survivors and tried to assess the damages.

"Do you hear that, Rosie?" Without waiting for an answer, Emmett stalked across an empty lot, past the splintered remains of a small farmhouse. Rose was slightly impressed by her mate's control, with the scent of fresh blood wafting out of the wreckage. But as she followed him, she picked up on what his keen hearing had heard first.

The mated vampires followed the faint heartbeat like a homing beacon, led by some unknown instinct that was driving them to seek the owner of that gentle pulse. It didn't take them long to find the cellar door, and they lifted the fallen tree off of it with ease. Rose didn't argue when Emmett pushed her behind him, taking the lead down the dark stairs.

The small bulb overhead was shattered, blown out when the power surged as the lines snapped. That didn't affect the vampires' vision, of course, but the human they were unconsciously seeking would be frightened if she woke in the murky darkness. To this end, Emmett pulled out his phone and turned on the light, before sweeping it around the small area.

Silently agreeing to split up, Rose went right when Emmett went left at the base of the stairs. Her nose wrinkled delicately as she took in the filth surrounding her, though she did pick up on one scent that drew her in despite the setting.

The scent was human—a young human—and the hints of strawberry and freesia pulled on her long-buried maternal instincts. Following her nose, Rose moved across the small space, meeting up with her husband just as he let out a very shrill squeal that his brothers would have teased him about mercilessly if they'd heard him.

A quiet gasp met his hasty retreat, giving Rosalie her first look at the tiny girl they'd been sent to find. As brown eyes met gold, almost seventy years' worth of frigidity melted in an instant. Rose was immediately captivated by the child blinking sleepily up at her.

"Hello, sweetheart," she knelt as she spoke quietly. "What's your name?"

When the girl glanced toward the large man who'd startled her awake, Rose followed her eyes to her cowering husband. "Emmett!" she hissed quietly. "What is your problem?!"

Emmett never took his eyes off his greatest phobia. He didn't know if that was some kind of joke to Alice, but he hadn't appreciated coming face to face with a creature from his metaphorical nightmares. A large shudder worked its way down his spine as he watched the girl caress the demon.

" _Rosie_ , it's a _clown!_ "

The girl gave a winning smile at his horror-filled words. She thrust her favorite doll toward the quivering vampire with surprising energy. "This is Clownie! You wanna hold him?"

Rose couldn't hold back her laughter as Emmett scrambled back a few more steps. Leave it to her husband to be terrified of a well-loved little doll. A small warm hand on her arm brought her attention back to the child in question. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the vampire. "Are you an angel, ma'am?"

Smiling tenderly, Rosalie brushed a few strands of hair away from the dirty little face and shook her head sadly. "No, sweetheart, I'm just Rose."

Accepting the words at face value, the girl nodded. "I'm Bella."

~o~o~o~o~

It was more difficult than they expected to get Bella out of the storm cellar. At barely five years old she was already leading the vampires around by the nose. She had no intention of leaving and no desire to return to her house—not that she had a house to return to anymore.

"No ma'am, Miss Rose. I ain't leavin'. I's just fine down here with Clownie."

Rosalie grit her teeth as she instantly thought of her brother Jasper and his even more ignorant brother, Peter. She would have to break Bella of that infernal drawl. Emmett chuckled quietly, still keeping his distance from the cursed clown.

"Bella, sweetheart, don't you want to come live with me and Emmett? You don't have a home here any longer. I don't believe your parents survived the storm." Rose tried cajoling once more.

"I ain't got a momma no more. Just Pill. Pill said he ain't my daddy but he's the closest thing I got." A dark look crossed her face as her little body shivered thinking about the only father she'd ever known.

Rose didn't miss that look, and she hadn't missed the evidence in the cellar that this was more than just a place where Bella took shelter from the tornado. It was as clear as the dirt-caked bruises on Bella's tiny body that this was a house of nightmares.

Emmett had finally had enough being cooped up below ground with a demon-possessed doll, and he headed up to the house to check on the status of "Pill."

Phil Dwyer was still lying on the couch where Bella had last seen him. Of course, there were now several pieces of lumber protruding from various parts of his body, and the rest of the small shack lay in ruins around him.

Emmett followed Bella's scent toward the back of the house, checking to see if there were any other toys or clothes they might be able to salvage from the wreckage. What he found instead made his venom boil.

A bare twin mattress was leaned up against the remaining framework of the back wall, speared in place by a single two by four stud. The dirty fabric was saturated with Bella's scent, making it clear whose bed it was, but the dark bloodstains and heavy traces of her stepfather's despicable odor spoke of horrors Emmett couldn't bear to even name. Were all the women in his life doomed to be victims? Why couldn't he save even one?

The humans wouldn't notice that some of the damage to this house was wrought by the hands of a bereaved vampire, but Emmett made sure there was nothing recognizable about either the home or the dead occupant. He was thinking clearly enough to leave the bloody mattress mostly intact—Bella still needed to disappear from the human world.

He could barely see for the venom clouding his eyes as he made his way back to the cellar, where he sat down heavily on the top step. Sobs shook his giant frame as he mourned the past years of Bella's life, silently vowing to protect her in every day going forward.

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, lost in his own roiling thoughts, but he realized dawn was fast approaching and they would have to leave soon. From the sounds below him, it seemed that Rose had finally made her case.

His mate came into view, carrying the precious bundle in her arms—dirty blanket, scary clown, and all. Seeing the two of them together—his mate and, if she would have them, his new daughter—Emmett was completely blown away by their combined strength and their beauty.

Matching radiant smiles showed their own personal triumphs, and when Bella's soft, tiny hand reached out for his, he knew he was the luckiest man on earth.


End file.
